B******* Pinup Book of Garbage

[Bunny Bailey]

Okay so we went to Barnes & Nobles today and I wanted to see some pinup/burlesque books - there were a total of 3 the employee found. But let me add that all over the damn place there are books covering every subject that feature a pinup on the cover, despite the fact that pinup has really has nothing to do with the book, and the author more than likely is not the least bit involved in the lifestyle. I f****** hate that! They are using the revitalization of old-school glamour to pimp irrelevant products - grrrrr! (sorry, side note that probably needs its own blog)

Okay, back on track....of the three books, two sucked ass, but it is one of those two I'll be ranting about here today.

The book is Hollywood Pinups by Timothy White

This slick black book is well protected in a sleek red hardcover with the words PIN UPS monochromatically announced on it. This makes you go "ooooh". But that is where it ends.

Once inside this waste of time and money you discover the insulting collection of what good ol' Tim apparently considers "Hollywood Pinups". Take a gander at the list yourself, and I'm sure that even without the disturbing visuals you'll see what I mean.

Susan Surandon, Cindy Crawford, Tea Leoni, Gina Gershon, Vanessa Williams, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Mary-Kate & Ashley Olsen, Angie Harmon, Jennifer Beals, Rebecca De Mornay, Regina King, Felicity Huffman, Denise Richards, Michelle Trachtenberg, Kate Walsh, Molly Sims and some others.

Now many of the listed women (and um, girls) in this book have work I've appreciated and enjoyed, BUT THEY ARE NOT F****** PINUPS! I'm more of a goddamned pinup than they are and I haven't even really gotten started! I mean, of all the modern day stars THAT'S the short list collection this guy comes up with!? Ridiculous! But, it gets worse.

The pictures featured in this book aren't even pinup photos. There are a few typical poses, red lips, and Cindy Crawford imitating some crazy version of Bettie Page in a red polka-dot bikini - but Cindy looks like a freaky muscle man (seriously, I didn't even recognize her) and the rest of them are mostly just half naked. This book has a magical way of making many of the girls look ugly and/or ridiculous! It did nothing, absolutely NOTHING to conjure up that feeling of adoration when one sees a lovely pinup flashing a darling smile your way. It's just over-pampered Hollywood stars in another session of "Oh look at me!". And who in the hell needs more of that?

I looked the book up on Amazon and I'm not the only one who feels this way, but I'm wondering if anyone else has actually seen this book? And if not, here's your warning to stay far-far away from it. Oh yeah and it was apparently a charity thing too, but connected with some very shady stuff.

I just wish people would leave the pinup stuff to those who are really representing it. Taking advantage of it's current trendiness to forward one's own agenda is infuriating to me.

Additional Note: I have no problem with the fact that this book donned celebrities, but it's the selection of celebrities paired with the farce of pinup they hardly attempt to portray. So we came up with some names that would have been much better additions to the book. (Jennifer Beals was good but her picture was awful, Jamie-Lynn Sigler passes and her photo was one of the few I liked). But how about (names may be spelled wrong): Zoey Dechanel, Christina Aguilera, Bette Midler, Angelina Jolie, Reese Witherspoon, Maggie Gylenhall, Kirsten Dunst, Rachel McAdams, Jennifer Connally, Drew Barrymore, Gwen Stefani, Bernadette Peters, Rose McGowan, and while I can't stand her Beyonce would have been a much better choice than Regina King, and for my older ladies how about Liza freakin Minelli, Glen Close, and Angelica Huston - need we go on! But THEN they'd have to take pictures of these amazing women that actually evoke pinup and show off their gorgeousness, which said book rarely does.

[Dana Blue]

Look for "Burlesque- Legendary Stars of the Stage" by Jane Briggeman, and "Striptease- from Gaslight to Spotlight" by Jessica Glasscock. If you have to go to a bookstore, just trust me and special order them.
Also, look for Taschen books- they do art books and have several pinup books, like "1000 Pin-Up Girls" and "Bizarre" (from the old fetish mag).
Most books of classic pinup art are good. Look for Petty, Vargas, Elvgren, and the like.
Olivia does modern pinup art, but lots of it is at least retro-inspired. I like it.

[Bunny Bailey]

so sorry Tab, I don't remember what the title of the book was, just that it was about 25% smaller than the one I'm talking about and it was yellow.

[Tabitha]

So I'm curious to know the title of the one good book you found?

[Delyssia LaBelle {Madam}]

yeah, i dont know why they would call that book by that tial, i totaly picked it up and was exited and then got disapointed. not very pin up...at all. haaaa

[Bunny Bailey]

ohhh, that sounds awful VV - but yeah, I guess I just have to get it out of my system and shake it off, then move on, blogging helps :-P

[Vivien V]

I had angsty feelings like this when I saw the WWF or WWE wrestling girls or whatevers 'pinups' as well as the 'rock of love' Brett Michaels show but what do ya do?

[Bunny Bailey]

We didn't buy it, thankfully. But my hubby did warn me that it had Mary-Kate & Ashley in it so I understood it wasn't old Hollywood. I gave it the benefit of the doubt though because it had a foreword by Susan Surandon, but I'm with the others on Amazon, I thought the photography and the subjects were awful (there were maybe 3 pictures I thought were good, but still not real pinup) - it just simply wasn't pinup to me. Hmmm, you just inspired me to start a forum about what pinup truly is (if there's not already one) cause I barely saw a hint of it in this book.

If you are only looking at it from the photography standpoint I can see how it could be enjoyable, but this book proclaimed "HOLLYWOOD PINUPS", that's different. That's what I was expecting and 95% of those chics do not deserve that title at all! To me the book was 90% FHM/Maxim celebrity shoot and 10% "pinup suggestion". The one book I did find that was good was packed with real pinups spanning from the 20's to the 60's - people who's lives and work reflected why they would be considered such - that's the collection that deserves such a title & a fancy looking book.

[Edson Carlos]

the photography is f****** incredible! did you buy a sealed one BTW? We found one open so it was no surprise that celebrities were in it, we bought knowing they weren't really lovers of the lifestyle but more pinup for a day type shots. The photography is SUPERB.

[Bunny Bailey]

Oh no, ha ha Desiree! I'm glad you enjoyed my rant ;-)

[Desirée {PL Team}]

We actually just bought it! hahah.. And we love it! You're right, they're not real pinups, but it's more about a photo, than the people in it (at least to me). I think the majority of the photography is beautiful!
I totally agree with you on the cindy Crawford photo. It IS terrible!
Nice writeup too, btw. :) I love reading angry talk. hahahha